flesh and the Father of the Spirits and when that which Adam begat which was dust even like himself Genes 3. did and shall return to dust then that which liveth or dwelleth in it returneuh to God the Father of Spirits who gave it but I pass to the next thing that which you say is David was conceived in sin and therefore there was Soul as well as body Answer And first you abuse the Text for it doth not read it as you have read it for it doth not say In sin was I conceived but I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me This far differeth one sense implyeth as if David lay the sin in the time of conception upon his mother in whom he was shapen in and your sense would imply thus much that is that David did acknowledge sin in himself in the time of conception but the Text it self will not emply it see it and read it distinctly Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Psal 51.5 The Text is thus to be understood as if David should have said O Lord it is true I have sinned against thee and dâ—ne that which is evil in thy sight but take notice or consider or behold this one thing even of the frailty and weakness and imperfection of the mould that I was shapen in meaning her which is the mother of all living and so Davids mother and therefore Lord cast away my sins from before thee David doth not confess sin in himself in the time of conception but rather doth desire God to behold the weakness of his nature from the mould in the which he was shapen and consider my frame and remember that I am but dust agreeing with the words of the Psalmist in the 103. 11 12 13 14 in these words For as the Heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy towards them that fear him as far as the East is from the West so far he removeth our transgressions from us like as a Father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him for he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are dust So that David useth his mothers frailty and the imperfection of the mould in which he was shapen an Argument to prevaile with the Lord to have his sins removed out of his sight because he knew God was a God of righteousness weighing every thing as they are and considereth that we are but dust and therefore saith David that thou maiest in mercy pass by my faults that I have committed against thee remember my subjection unto sin for behold or take notice I was shapen in a lump of iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me take notice there is a difference in a person being sinful in the time of conception and being conceived a sinful lump or shapen in an imperfect mould But you will say Who can bring a clean thing out of unclean no not one Answer Object And where it is said who ean bring a clean thing out of unclean it speaketh of the subjection to mortality see Job 14.4 Jesus Christ was clean and yet was conceived in sinful flesh and in reference to what he was shapen or conceived in he was in a subjection not to be tempted onely but did fear death when he prayed that the cup of sufferings might pass from him if it was Gods Will although he came into the world for the same purpose and yet in respect of the matter of which Christs flesh was made of it could not be subject to the least imperfection in that nature it being the word which became flesh But my exposition of the 51 Psalm Will clear the matter more to you and by what is said there and here it standeth undenyably true and what you have said hath not so much as a good collour of an answer Again I pass to the Examination of what you say to my alledged Argument passing your other discourse that of Ezekiel which saith The Soul that sinneth shall die I have made a difference between Adams sin and ours as well as the punishment that is Adams sin as he was natural and not spiritual so his sin brought death upon the natural part but the son is not disabled in respect of the Soul by his Fathers sin but the Soul that sinneth shall die but the Argument that I did urge is this That no defiled creature is fit or can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But children in their non-age are fit for the Kingdom of Heaven Therefore children not defiled To which you answer thus The Kingdom of Heaven say you is taken two wayes first the Kingdom of Heaven is taken for the Kingdom of Grace as Mark. 9.1 and Math. 11.12 There are some that stand here that shall not taste death till the Kingdom of God come in power till Christened Churches gathered Ordinances administred and children of beleeving Parents belong to this Kingdom though such as you barr them from the Ordinances of the Kingdom of Grace To which I answer and say in what you affirm there is these two things mainely to be considered the first is that the Kingdom mentioned Mark 9.1 in these words There be some that stand here that shall not taste of death till they have seen the Kingdom of God come with power is the Kingdom of Grace to wit the Gospel Church and Ordinances And secondly children are fit for that Kingdom as you say but the question is whether we may beleeve you or not but upon Examination I shall prove it to be a false doctrine And first to the first That the Kingdom coming in power is not meant of the Gospel Church or Ordinances but of the power and glory of the Church triumphant agreeing with or being the same with the words of Matthew Mat. 16.22 the which are thus read Verily Verily I say unto you there be some standing here which shall not taste if death till they sie the Son of man coming in his Kingdom Now that this is not a Gospel Church or Ordinances which is called the Kingdom of God coming in power or the Son of man coming in his Kingdom is evident because it is no where so called Secondly if he had meant the Gospel Church or Ordinances he need not have said Some of them that stand here shall not taste of death till the Kingdom of God come in power or more properly the Son of man coming in his Kingdom because none of them that stood there did taste of death till they saw the Gospel Church and Ordinances unless Judas Iscariot but I shall shew most evidently that it is not meant of the Gospel Church and Ordinances coming but of Christs coming in Glory But by the way it is possible you will say What then is not all the Apostles dead I might say somewhat to it but admit they were all dead many hundred years ago yet there was some that did
then secondly shall shew also in what line the decree of God runneth both as touching Election Reprobation And thirdly shall shew that Gad doth decree to change the dispensation of Mercy or Justice according to the creatures acting And first to the first that is God respecteth not the person but the quality that you may see it clearly proved weigh the Scriptures in the ballance of your understanding And Peter opened his mouth and said Act. 10.34 of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation him that feareth God and worketh righteousness 1 Pet. 1.17 is accepted with him And therefore if ye call one Father who without respect of person judgeth every man according to his works spend your sojourny here in fear For the Lord your God Deuâ— 10.17 is God of Gods and Lord of Lords which respecteth not persons but he that doth wrong shall receive for the wrong that he hath done Col. 3.25 and there is no respect of persons Jer. 22.24 As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the son of Jeoiakim King of Judah were the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence these Scriptures you may peruse with many more that tend to this purpose But that God respecteth the quality is clear for as saith the text Him that feareth God and worketh righteousness Gods decree unchangeable is accepted a humble heart and a broken Spirit is in the sight of God a pearle of great price and The prayers of the righteous are his delight so then God is no respecter of person but quality And secondly God hath decreed unchangeably to condemn such as die in their sins and also to save them that walk uprightly to shew also what line Gods decree runneth in both as touching Election and Reprobation God hath decreed unchangeably to save all that are in his Son namely such as walk before him in Righteousness and true Holiness and he hath also unchangeably decreed to render himself in flaming fire to the Everlasting destruction of all that walk in unrighteousness and disobey the Gospel of his Son I suppose I need not multiply words to prove this because I think none will deny it and this is Gods decree That of old he did ordain godly men to Salvation and ungodly men to Damnation and so if men walke righteously in Christ viz. Christs Commands then the decree of Salvation doth reach them or comprehend them and if they turn from righteousness to live in sinful courses then the decree of Condemnation reacheth or comprehendeth them So that God changeth not but it is man that changeth for Gods decree is to save righteous men and destroy wicked men not looking at this man or the other mans person but as he findeth them righteous or unrighteous unto which his decree hath respect I pray admit of this comparison presuppose we in this Country were all rebells to his Highness the Lord Protector and he being a man of great pitty maketh a decree although he might cut us off for our rebellion to pardon us if we cast down our armes and submit to him within twenty dayes or otherwise we shall perish by the sword or the like possibly some of us upon that account cast down our armes at ten dayes end and then we are comprehended within the decree of Absolution but possibly by reason of our companions that scoff at us and call us cowards and the like we at fifteen dayes end take up our armes again and then we are comprehended within the Decree of Death not that his Highness decree changeth but it is by our changing that we are under the decree of Absolution or Condemnation and although comparisons run not upon four wheels as we say yet this comparison reacheth the manner of Gods decree or is a plain similitude of it and that it is so read the Scriptures seriously Ezekiel the 18.21 and 26. in these words But if the wicked shall turn from all his sins that he hath committed Ezek. 18.21 24. 26. chap. 33.18 19. 1 Tim. 5.12 2 Pet. 2.20 21. and keep all my Statutes and do that which is Lawful and Right he shall surely live he shall not die but When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his righteousness shall not be once mentioned but in his sins that he hath committed in them shall he die I might speak much of this both from the Old Testament and the New you may look in the margen and so I pass to the third last particular the which is to prove That although God change not in what he hath absolutely decreed yet God hath decreed to change his dispensation of Mercy or Misery according to the creatures obedience or disobedience And first Jer. 18.7 8 9 10. see the words of the Prophet Jeremy which saith In what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation or a Kingdom to pluck up and pull down and destroy it If that Nation against whom I promunce turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them And it what instant I speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build and to plant it If it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then will I repent of the good that I said I would benefit them withal The very same you may see concerning the house of Eli in 1 Sam. 2.30 these words Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy Fathers should walk before me for ever but now the Lord hath said be it far from me for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed And hence it came to pass Jonah 3.10 that Nineveh was not destroyed although the Lord commanded Jona to cry forty dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed God did decree to change the dispernation of Mercy or Justice according to the creatures obedience or disobedience And God saw their works that they turned from their evil wayes and God repented viz. changed his mind of the evil that hâ— had said he would do unto them and he did it not Hence we may see that God changeth the dispensation of Mercy and Justice according to the creatures acting for he said Elies house should abide or be established before him but because Eli preferred his sons above Gods sacrifice suffering them to kick against it caused the Lord to toot him up And again whereas God did say he would destroy Nineveh they humbling themselves the Lord did not doe unto them in punishment as he said he would And thus I have proved the three particulars and fully answered what you have said namely That to love and hate Esau you dargue a change in God and so I pâ—ss to your second assertion as to this matter which is say you God
subtilty should have caused all the Workmanship of God the which he was about six dayes to have sunk and have been buried in the Grave of Oblivion Secondly If God who is no respecter of persons should have seen all men fallen alike by one and the same guilt of transgression and have saved some and left others in misery how had his mercy been above all his works it would have been a very great dishonour to almost if not all the Attributes of God to have redeemed but part first it would have argued weakness or diâ—ability in God in leaving part of the Creation at the will of the Devill or otherwise it would have destroyed the Attribute of his Mercy so that his Mercy had not been over all his Works Thirdly It would have destroyed his unsadomable and universal goodness to the Sons of men and made him a respecter of persons the which he hath declared against for consider if when God saw all men in misery and all created and fashioned alike by him and all fell equal in one and the same guilt of transgression if God should save some out of it and leave others in it when all were made alike and all had sinned alike would not God be a respecter of persons the which the Scripture plainly declareth against Finally it would preach such a Doctrine as this that although God did command the Gospel of Grace to be offered unto all ministerially yet it never was intended to the greatest part of men but to be a Gospel of misery for if it be only preached to leave men without excuse and that to take advantage of the most part of men and to communicate no good at all then the Angels did not preach truth to the Shepheards when they said It was glad tidings of great joy to all men but if your opinion be true the Gospel was so far from being glad tidings of great joy to all men that it was the worst tidings that ever came or was declared to the greatest part of men the truth hereof no rational man can deny for if God never did intend in the tenderness of the Gospel any good to those that reject it only intended it to leave them without excuse then these absurdities must follow First that God did not deal faithfully with the greatest part of men in offering that unto them that he never intended to give but I say God forbid we should be of so base an opinion yea let God be true and every man a lyar and let every Christian man say with Abraham shall the God of the whole earth do unrighteously surely such things cannot be found in him and in saying so of the Lord you make him like to hypocrites and dissemblers the which abomination is abâ—orred of the Lord I could speak much to it but I pass to the second which is If God never intended salvation to all men in the derness of the Gospel then it is impossible for men in the slighting of the Gospel to neglect their own Salvation for if God never intended Salvation thorow the Gospel to such as reject it as well as to those that receive it then those that reject it reject nothing for there was nothing intended them in it if your opinion be true and therefore could reject nothing neither could they neglect their own Salvation for if Salvation was not intended in the Gospel to such as sleep away their time in security then they could not neglect it by their security because if they had been never so much industrious yet it had added nothing unto them because Salvation was never intended them and thus you excuse men in their disobedience and resisting the Gospel and neglecting means of Grace and Salvation although in charity I judge you do it ignorantly I could say much more but I am necessitated to hasten and come to the next thing which is about Sodoms fire The which say you it will suffer much upon examination because I say it is not meant that lake of Fire and Brimstone the which is called the Second death but it is called eternal in opposition to such fire as is called temporal or may be so called because as it is kindled by man so it is put out by man the which that fire that destroyed Sodom was of another nature it was not kindled by man neither could it be extinguished by man and yet was no more hell fire than that which fell on the Captains and their Fifties for their sins I could speak much to it but it s not worth my time only this question resolve when you Write again I pray you where you learned such a Doctrine and what Reason you can give to prove it that is that after persons are sent to Hell they must be brought back again to judgement to be judged and tryed whether they deserve it yea or nay Is it legal for the Magistrates of a free Corporation to take a man and hang him and then afterward to set down and determine the case whether he have deserved it yea or nay Is this and such like dealing Gods merhod O ye blind guides did God cast Adam out of Paradice into the curse and afterwards brought him to Judgement to convince him that he deserved it It is not the way of God to cast men into Hell and afterwards â—o bring them to judgement to see whether they deserve it yea or nay or did the Lord first bring him to judgement and afterwards when the sentence was past cast him forth of the Garden but I pass you tell me I almost deny or give the Scripture the lye by saying that the Inhabitants are not now suffering in Hell-fire But before I come further to examine what you say touching Sodoms fire I take leave to inform the curteous Reader the occasion of this Discourse concerning Sodoms fire the which is My former Antagonist Mr. Rutton was pleased to say in a private conference although I made it publick at the last that there was some reprobated before they were born and that for Adams sin instanced in those of Sodom saying that there were many Children in Sodom which cannot be denyed and that they were now in Hell and yet never committed actual sin therefore were damned for Original sin and although my Antagonist hath no more charity of poor innocent Babes as in respect of their eternal Transgression to say they were all damned and are in Hell I did endeavour to prove that Sodoms suffering of eternal fire was not that lake of fire and brimstone which is called the second death and also that none are in that lake untill after Judgement The Devills time of torments are not yet come but are reserved for him till the day of judgement and then shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death Rev. 20.12 13. that the Devill is not yet in it but faith to Christ why art thou come to torment us
before the time and we never read of any cast into that lake before the judgement day but I pass to the examination of what is said in way of contradiction the which is say you Sodom are new suffering the vengeance of eternal fire from Jude 7. your words are these Iude telleth us say you that Sodom and Gomorrah are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire that is now in misery now the former fire is out which destroyed their bodie Because I have not found you deal fairly with the Scriptures but have wrested them and said that which they say not I shall examine whether Jude 7. say as you say that Sodom and Gomorrah are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire and upon examination I do not find the word ARE in the Verse to that purpose for which ye bring it the Text doth not say they ARE suffering the vengeance of Eternal fire but the Text faith thus Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to Fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Now you may see the Text doth not say they ARE suffering of eternal fire but the strength of you reason why they ARE now suffering in Hell is because it faith they ARE 〈◊〉 forth for an example Sâ—V FFERING the vengeance of Eternal fire and because the Text faith Sâ—V FFERING the vengeance that therefore they are now Sâ—V FFERING and in order to a clear answer consider these few things First whether the word Sâ—V FFERING in Scripture may not respect 〈◊〉 the preterperfecttence and not the present 〈◊〉 some place And Secondly whether it was the suffering of the Sodomites in the destroying of their bodies by that fire and brimstone that God rained on them from Heaven be that which is called the example And Thirdly Where you can find any other suffering mentioned that the Sodomites were under save that suffering mentioned in Gen. 19. and Recorded for an example Iude 7. And first to clear this thing see the word SUFFERING in some places of scripture respecteth the Preterfecttence Heb. 2.9 and not the Presenttence James 5.10 for Christs death is said to be a suffering of death a long time after he was dead and alive again and glorified at the right hand of the Father The word suffering sometimes respects not the presenttence but the preterimperfecttence the Prophets are said to be set out for an example of SUFFERING and of pâ—tience long after their Sâ—V FFERING was over so that the word Sâ—V FFERING is of no strength for you to build your conceit on and the Text in Iude doth not say as you said that they ARE suffering that word you put in to help you but it will not cover you And Secondly that it was the sufferings of the Sodomites bodies by that fire that came down from Heaven is evident because Iude faith that they are set forth for an example now if it be meant of the suffering of the Soulin Hell as you say then I pray what example is it for unusuall judgements are alwayes used for examples but it is no unusuall thing for the souls of ungodly to suffer in Hell now or hereafter according to both our opinions but to see God rain down Fire and Brimstone to destroy a Nation or City that is not usual but a remarkable judgement and therefore set forth for an example and such was that of Sodoms SUFFERING And Thirdly You can never prove any other suffering that was inflicted on Sodom but that on their bodies the which if you can I shall wait on you to see it and so shall pass taking no notice of your Authors supposing that they may possibly be as ignorant as your self And whereas you say in your twentieth page that Jude tells us that they are now suffering I say you do not almost but altogether give the Scripture the lye for the Text doth not say that they ARE now suffering but you say that if the Devills now suffer in hell then it is also plain that Sodom suffereth in hell but you would prove one if you could and include the other that the Devil is not in torments is plain Why art thou come to torment us before the time peradventure you will say that they were not in the depth of torments but you will say they were in some the which I deny that they were in any torments onely cast out of Heaven First The Devil not in Hell viz. the lake which is the second death for then they could nor compass the earth and come before the Lord the which they did because if they had been in hell viz. the lake that they shall in future be put in then they could not have walked to and sâ—o in the earth nor appeared before God when the Sons of God met together for there is such a gulf that they that are there cannot come before God and when once they come there they shall not have their liberty to walk to and fro but shall be tormented day and night in the lake of Fire and Brimstone and as yet they are called the Prince of the aire and the god of this World but they shall be cast down into the earth and also bound a thousand years and afterwards loosed again before they be cast into that Lake and whereas Peter faith that they were cast down into hell and reserved unto the judgement of the great day I Answer Psal 16.10 Exod. 2.27 and 3.1 Jona 2.2 Isa 5.14 Hell in Scripture is taken several wayes sometimes for the Earth and sometimes for the Sea as Ionah cryed to the Lord out of the belly of Hell the which is meant the sea or the Whale take it which way you please and sometimes it is taken for captivity and whereas you cite the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hell is variously â—aken see Mat. 5.29 and ca. 10.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be read hill or valley or dale it will not so fully prove the matter as you seem to suppose because if we consider that high place that they did enjoy and the place in which they were cast that is to say without the gate it might fitly be called a deep place or hell and yet not be in that Lake which is the second death no they were reserved in chains to receive their torments at the great day of judgement that is their time as they well know and not before therefore they believe and tremble to consider of their day that is coming and again you conclude that children are guilty of the second death because that Iohn saw small and great stand before God to be judged a very poor reason are all that stand before God to be judged guilty of the second death then all the godly are guilty of the second death for we must all appear before the judgement seat to give an
reward for their sins for shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord and shall not my soul be avenged of such a people so that the great men and richmâ—n and chief Captains and mighty men shall hide themselves as prisoners in the Rocks and holes of the earth saying to the Rocks fall on us and hide us but yet for all this the Lord will bring them thence and visit them for their sins with the Rod or his wrath I could speak much to it but I studdy brevity and come to shew you that although I say there shall be a Restauration and the Sun shall be seven degrees lighter and the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and yet also say the earth shall be dark or the place of their punishment shall be utter darkness yet there is no contradiction in the words for I say that Christ shall Reign a thousand years before the last and general Resurrection and then shall all things be restored in which time of Christs Reign the Sun and Moon shall be restored into their primitive glory and brightness for all that was for mans use was cursed for mans sake but after this state of Christs Reign then shall the Saints have only the glory of God to be their light and so I pass to examine your examination of my Arguments of Original Sin and so to the first although it be laid down more fully in my Treatise Rev. 20 6 7 8. yet I shall take it for brevity sake as you have laid it down in yours which is That if Adam had decreed against him eternal death Argum. 1 and all in his Lines upon his disobedience and that not inflicted on them then is God changeable But God changeth not Therefore Your Answer is If God 's threatnings work not Repentance it breaks out into punishments God never decreed that Adam and his should eternally perish and yet you say that the death that God said they should dye for that sin committed in Paradice was eternal death now that death that God threatned to bring on Adam if he sinned he did decree to bring it on him and accordingly did being it on him and all his the which death was only the first death as I have already proved and I am very confident that all the opposites in the world can never prove that it was the second death but read my Syons Redemption and see your answer is no whit to the purpose I have also shewed what is meant in the Ephesians and were by nature the children of wrath as well as others and whereas you ask me whether Adams Fall was decreed I Answer God never did decree man should sin God did fore see man would but never did decree he should yet God did decree to send Christ seeing Adams Fall we agree in this that God did never intend or decree Adams eternal ruine but did decree him to the dust for that sin and when he had brought him there his Justice was satisfied and had God been onely Justice and not mercy there he must have hin for ever their Justice to him and their Mercy for him to bring some again from the dead and so saith the Scripture 2 Sam. 14.14 We must needs dye and be like water spilt upon the ground for God hath decreed it yet he hath used a means that his banished shell not be for ever expelled from him and whereas you say all School-men do allow of a concealed will and a revealed will the former is unchangeable not the latter that is his revealed will is changeable First Because God threatned Niniveh Adam and Hezekiah and yet did not punish them so as he threatned And secondly commanded Pharoah to let Israel go and Abraham to sacrifice his Son and herâ— God changeth his sentence To which I answer and first to the first that is that Gods revealed will is changeable the which if it be true as you say then although he have commanded us to obey the Gospel and in so doing promised salvation yet we know not whether he speak as he means or whether his mind will change yea or nay this and much of this nature I might say which is your opinion of God and how much less than bla sphemy it is I leave the Reader to judge of And Secondly as touching that of Hezekiah that when he told him that he should dye and not live and yet notwithstanding added unto his dayes fifteen years we know that God hath promised to turn away punishment from such as humble themselves before him hence he spared Ahab when he humbled himself and much more will he spare his own people when they humble themselves as Hezekiah did with tears yet Gods will altereth not though he do will to alter the dispensation of Mercy or Justice according to the Cretures obedience or disobedience as already proved Thirdly As touching Niniveh if God had destroyed them in forty dayes according as he said he would God had been changeable in his Decree considering their Repentance Gods will altereth not although he do will to change in dispensation of Mercy or Justice according to the creatures obedience or disobedience and Humiliation for before God sent Jonah to Niniveh to proclaim yet forty dales and Niniveh shall be destroyed he had decreed and declared it that in what instant he spake of a people to destroy thon if that people against whom he pronounced the judgement did repent he also would repent of the evil that he said he would bring upon them and Nineveh did repent of their evill and then if the Lord should not have repented of the evil of punishment that he said he would bring on them then he had been changeable that is he had said one thing and had done another but Gods revealed will changeth not although he do will to change as beforesaid And Fourthly God did bring the full summe of punishment upon Adam that he threatned and more than we find Recorded for all that was threatned was that he should dye or in dying he should dye the which is meant that he should be in a dying condition from the time of his sin till he fell into the dust from whence he was taken and so in the midst of lise to be in death or a dying condition till death never continuing in one stay but the earth being cursed for his sake we do not find there ended yet we see it was in the sentence and also the Womans conception to be in sorrow the which are as Pendicts or appurtenances to death Man is in a dying condition from the Womb till he falls into the dust and hat is meant by the Lords threatning him in dying thou shalt dye Gen. 2. all shewing Gods revealed will altereth not and so I come to the second Head which is Gods commands that is say you God doth command men to do that in his revealed will the which in his
the Devil was a lyer from the beginning and this Death say you was the second death and also you confess tâ—at Adam and all his Lines did not dye the second Death so that if your opinion be true the Devil spake true and not God see your self I tremble to write so of the worthy name of God as your ignorant blasphemous opinion leads me to write in reference to discover your absurdities but you say That although God threatned it yet he did not peremptorily resolve it but sent Christ To which I answer as beforesaid that is but to make the Devils words true for God had said and decreed they should dye but the Devil perswaded them to believe a lye that they should not dye that the Devil might be a true Prophet say you God sent Christ that they might not dye and as to the case of Nineveh and Hezekiah I have already answered And again whereas you would have me say Either Christ brought not justification of life by his obedience or else conclude Adam brought evernal condemnation by disobedience or say there is no sence in the Apostles arguing Rom. 5.18 To which I answer there is good reason in the Apostles reasoning and yet his words imply not that which you would infer from them for I have already proved that the condemnation there mentioned is but to the dust viz. the first death Adams sin caused God to judge and condemn him and his posterity to the dust but in a short word take this as the Apostles reasoning from Rom. 5 18. that as by the offence of the first Adam judged or condemned all to the dust and so brought them all under the power of the Grave to have lain there eternally had not mercy been provided so by the righteousness of the Second Adam the free gift came upon all men to deliver or justifie them from that power of Death viz. the sting thereof so that it might be said in the promise as in the person of Christ O Death I will be thy death and thus the free gift came upon all men to justification of life that as in or by Adam all dyed even so in or by Christ all are made alive viz. raised from the dead it being done in Gods account from the foundation of the world so then the first Adam by his sin made all men liable to the power of the first death so that the sting of death did as we may say attach them but mercy through the Righteousness of Christ stepped in and jus tified man from that attachment and destroyed the power of it and brought life and immortality to light for although God did peremptorily Decree that Adam should go to the dust for that sin Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return yet he did not decree either in his threatning or in his sentence that he should lye there eternally yet the sting of Death viz. the power of the Grave would have seized on or surprized him had not mercy in the Promise justified man from it and thus the free gift came upon all men to justification of life I might say much more to it but I pass to that of Jude where you say They were of old ordained to Condemnation To which I answer and say that it is true that God of old did in his Decree ordain and appoint some to condemnation It is not denied that God did of old ordain ungodly men to condemnation although it be denied that God of old did ordain men to be ungodly that thereby they might come to condemnation namely such as did refuse the grace of Salvation in the tenderness of it and put away eternal life and glory and turn the grace of God into wantonness and such were they that Jude speaks of there are certain men crept in saith he who of old were ordained to this condemnation and then tels us what disposed men they are and that is saith he ungodly men turning the grace of God mark that to wantonness I could shew you what is meant by the word this Condemnation but I pass And whereas you say That Children might be made liable in Adam to eternal Death Answer If you mean eternal Death as before promised that is to lye eternally in the Grave under the sting oâ— Death as beforesaid then we differ not but if by Eternal Death you mean â—he second Death they could not be liable to that by the sin in Paradice because the punishment of the second Death must pre-suppos a second Life that is a person must be said to be twice alive before he can be said to be twice dead or in danger to be twice dead and therefore the Lord sheweth that as there was a first Death that all mâ—n must taste of for that sin in Paradice so there is a lake of fire and brimstone the which God calls the second Death and where ever the word second is used it presupposeth a first otherwise there cannot be a second but the Death spoken in Genesis could not be the second unless there had been a Death proposed before it the which was not for by one man sin entred into the world and death mark that by sin so then sin brought death into the world and secondly in Christ is hid our second life the which we loose by loosing of him and Christ and that life in him which is opposed to the second death was never ours before the Fall and I could give many sound Reasons to prove both these but I pass it may be needless because no man upon due consideration can deny it and so pass But before I shall examine or try your lawful Ministry I shall through Gods assistance unfold unto you the mystery contained in the Ninth Chapter to the Romans partly because many poor Souls stand as it were amazed to know what God means in his Word for say they God sometimes saith He would have all men come to Repentance and swears he desires not the death of him that dyes but rather that they would return and live and therefore exhorted men to strive to enter in at the strait gate and to be diligent to make their calling and election sure and to beware lest any fail of the grace of God but so to run that they may obtain and the like and yet saith It is not in him that willeth or runneth but hated Esau before he was born as some say and makes persons vessels of dishonour from a Decree before they were born or had done good or evil in a word elect some and reprobate others before born and yet saith he would not their death but would have them turn and yet appoints them to run on in evill these and many more of this nature do persons conclude is in God and stâ—â—â— when they are brought in question as touching this their conceit they fly to the Ninth of the Romans as a refuge the which thorow Gods help I shall shew will